Hoax caller put through to British PM

A caller pretending to be Britain's top spy chief successfully breached procedures to speak to Prime Minister David Cameron, prompting authorities to review security measures to avoid similar incidents in future.

London: A caller pretending to be Britain's top spy chief successfully breached procedures to speak to Prime Minister David Cameron, prompting authorities to review security measures to avoid similar incidents in future.

The prime minister ended the call when it became clear that it was a hoax and no sensitive information was disclosed, the Downing Street said.

However, the giggling prankster - who claimed to be Robert Hannigan, director of British intelligence agency GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) - telephoned The Sun tabloid and said he will "definitely do it again" as it was "so easy" to make the hoax call.

The man allegedly rang up the newspaper to boast "I've just made monkeys out of GCHQ", minutes after his phone conversation with Cameron.

It was one of two hoax calls reported yesterday.

"In the first instance, a call was made to GCHQ which resulted in the disclosure of a mobile phone number for the Director. The mobile number provided is never used for calls involving classified information," a government spokeswoman said in a statement.

"In the second instance, a hoax caller claiming to be the GCHQ director was connected to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister ended the call when it became clear it was a hoax.